YatPundit

Thoughts on the National MLK Memorial

2008-05-12T02:21:47Z

Sculptor Lei Yixin with a model of his MLK statue destined for The Mall in DC

All Things Considered did a segment on the National MLK Memorial, which will be built on the Mall, between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. The inspiration for the statue that will dominate the memorial is from King's "I Have A Dream" speech:

In the original design for the MLK memorial, a bust of King emerges almost organically out of the side of the Stone of Hope. To get to the stone, a visitor would walk through two rocks symbolizing the Mountain of Despair. That design won the competition set up by the U.S. Fine Arts Commission, the federal agency that approves anything that gets built on the National Mall. But in the new model for the statue, King is much bigger. His arms are crossed defiantly and he has a solemn look on his face

The commission overseeing the project thinks MLK is too harsh, severe, in his expression. I'm good with that. MLK shouldn't be turned into Uncle Fluffy. I'd like to put up a copy of that statue outside Vitty-cent's office door, and another one outside Scalise's office-when he gets to DC to remind those pigs that the world is watching them.

Decimation is a much better technique

2008-05-12T01:50:32Z

What Barclays is doing is just bound to piss people off:

Barclays Capital is forcing its IT contractors to choose between a 10 per cent pay cut or a quick exit from the company.

The decision, presumably an alternative to cutting jobs as the bank negotiates the current financial crisis, has sparked outrage amongst contract staff, who have to signal their "acceptance" of the wage cut this month.

I've gone through this with some of the companies for which I've done training over the years. Still, it's different to pull this stunt to code monkeys slaving in cubicles all day. Better to cut the number of jobs and keep wages the same.

Barclays will suffer in the long run on this, because most large companies aren't smart enough to return rates to their higher levels when there is an ecoonomic upturn. People will remember this and will bail for other jobs as soon as they can. What Barclays will be left with are those unmotivated to find something better, and that's going to hurt their overall productivity in the long run.

holy crap!

2008-05-11T16:09:59Z

how would you like this to be left on your answering machine:

Sandie Petee came home from running an errand to find a message her son had accidentally left on her answering machine. She hit play and heard the sound of Stephen in the middle of a battle with insurgents in Afghanistan. Petee talks with Andrea Seabrook about the scare.

talk about a parent's nightmare!

Greek life in the new millenium

2008-05-10T12:58:49Z

NOLA-disu's post on the behavior of the criminal organization known as Tulane's chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha brought me back to memories of being in a fraternity at University of New Orleans.

I'm a member of Lambda Chi Alpha, initiated in December of 1976 at UNO. We were (and still are) the only fraternity to own a house. Since it was off-campus, we didn't have any sort of obligations to the university or monitoring from them. It was up to us to maintain standards of proper behavior at social functions and in daily life around the house. Sometimes we succeeded, sometimes we failed. Still, we never crossed the line to criminal. Of course, most of us were local boys, not out of town kids with no ties/roots in the city.

The pikes are one of the reasons we rarely went to uptown bars back in the day. We'd go to Bruno's on Thursday nights because one of our fraternity brothers had a gig spinning oldies there, but that was about it. I never set foot in "The Boot" until I was something like 26 years old, mainly because it would be like going into a pub near White Hart Lane in London with an Arsenal shirt on. What scares me is that the current crop of pikes aren't just guilty of "high spirits" as they call it in English public schools, they appear to be pathologically violent:

One of the alleged assailants in the hazing incident, Kevin Dunn, has a previous battery conviction. Dunn and another man were booked on charges of second-degree battery and negligent injuring in March 2006 after kicking and punching another student after they got into an argument, according to court records.

In terms of the current hazing incidents, we see a clear example of why stupid white boys from the Middle Colonies shouldn't be allowed near Creole cuisine:

The fraternity, commonly called PIKE, now faces allegations that members poured boiling water on the bodies of pledges and caked them with flour, crab boil, vinegar, cayenne peppers and wasabi sauce. The victims were treated at a local hospital with second- and third-degree burns, according to New Orleans police.

Crab boil? These boys are idiots. That stuff is so concentrated that it stings when it comes into contact with the skin. And it got in the eyes and on the genitals of those pledges? Incredible.

Still, I'm guilty of the one thing that the rest of the fraternities and sororities bemoan when incidents like this happen, focusing on the negative. I like this quote from a guy in ZBT:

Gibson, sitting on his fraternity house's stoop Wednesday afternoon, likened fraternity life to an airport. "Planes land and take off all the time, but only the crashes get magnified," he said.

So true. I enjoyed my fraternity experience and am proud to be a Lambda Chi. My first born (a sophomore at the Georgia Institute of Technology) isn't a fraternity kid, but that's OK. The oldest kiddo of one of my best friends is a Theta Xi at UL and is loving it. We have to chalk up the pikes in the "shit happens" category. Hopefully Tulane will flush this shit down the toilet and pipe it back to New Jersey.

Renard Poche Harnesses The Energy Of New Orleans

2008-05-08T04:17:56Z

From the N to the O to the L to the A, Renard Poche's CD, "4U 4ME" is simply incredible. I was humming "Same Old Thing" by the Meters the other day when LisaPal told everyone on Twitter to check out the website and give the tunes a listen.

Old-school funk is where I well and truly reveal that I'm a musical mutant. i went to Brother Martin in the early-mid 1970s. One of my debate team partners introduced me to War, in between us listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. The Meters actually played a BMHS homecoming dance, a big gig for them (over 1,000 people). Hanging around the basketball team (I was a sports statistician) turned me on to the Brothers Johnson, Parliament, and the Ohio Players. Then I'd go home and listen to Yes and Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Total schizo. 30+ years later, however, I'm more likely to queue up a bunch of those old-school funk tunes. My son's a big part of why that happens. My 13-year old bone player's band does a lot of old school music. In fact, he told me today the BMHS band will be playing "Apache" by Sugar Hill Gang next football season. This on top of the Gap Band, Funkadelic, EWF, and DAZZ band stuff they already play.

But I digress as I listen to "Tumba." It's one thing to re-live the music of one's youth; it's another altogether to discover that someone has run with that music, updating it, kept it fresh, recharged the funk. The mixture of old school, a little of rap, classic jazz rhythms, and oh so much love and soul blend together as only a New Orleanian can make them.

The "intro" surprised me, because usually a commercial CD puts its best musical foot forward on the first track. I grabbed "4U 4ME" as a digital release, and the approach there is different. The intro is the teaser to get you to buy the other tunes. It worked on me, you can just hear the promise of good tracks in the background.

And Renard delivers, first with "Funk 4U," bringing me back to riding the basketball team bus, voice box and all. "I Thought" and its smooth sax combined with a bit of rap goes good with a Hubig's pie. The groove is definitely in full session by "Flavr," and ready to march down the street in "We R"

If "4U 4ME" was a dining experience, it would be a platonic meal.

Support NOLA musicians. Buy these tunes.

The adventures of teaching geeks...

2008-05-07T21:07:32Z

Kimber (aka FabGirl on twitter) was laughing about my students I teach in these computer classes. Usually they're all male, but occasionally i get female students. Occasionally those females are total hotties.

One time, back when I was teaching Tru64 UNIX classes, I walked into the office of a company I used to do a lot of work for in suburban Boston. The office manager greeted me in the office and said I was in classroom #1 (of three) that week. I go drop my stuff down in that classroom, and there's this stunning, 5'2" or so blonde in short shorts. No way, thinks I, is this gal here for UNIX class. I figured the office manager got it backwards, and one of the web statistics classes was in #1 and I was further down the hall.

No, office manager says, that's indeed your class. I said, so, should I tell the blonde to move to the other room? No, I'm told, blonde is a UNIX system administrator.

That morning most definitely restored my belief in a benevolent Supreme Being. :-)

Dear Mommybloggers

2008-05-06T19:38:49Z

I was a dad who was very active in raising my children. I took the night shift feedings, did diaper runs to Toys R Us and/or WallyWorld, and then changed said diapers when necessary. I washed bottles, did those crappy disposable-bag bottles, you name it.

I'll admit that wife did more shifts in the NICU with our daughter, but the particular trauma of a very early preemie is the exception to the rule. I held down the fort with older brother who was three at that point.

I know you self-styled mommy bloggers encounter your share of males who don't do much to help the cause of child-rearing, but your poor attempts at sarcastic beat-downs on males don't impress me. In spite of whatever personal experiences you may have to the contrary, there are a lot of two-parent families where "kid" duties are shared. Maybe not equally, but often fairly.

Sell the sarcasm someplace else.

Love,
YatPundit

My tried-and-true JazzFest parking/transportation strategy

2008-05-01T15:15:10Z

When going to JazzFest, I always park in the 100-200 block of Canal Blvd., right next to Greenwood Cemetery. No meters, usually not parked up at all. From there, cross into the neutral ground and catch the Esplanade bus line. Get off near the Mystery Street entrance to the Fair Grounds.

Reverse this on the way out.

Happy Festing!

An Open Letter to Marc Morial

2008-05-01T08:42:57Z

Dear Mr. Morial.

Shut up.

Please. You're embarassing yourself when you try to act as an elder statesman and spokesman for your family.

Your credibility in this town is so poor that, yes, the Convention Center wants to downplay the Morial name because the first thing people associate with that name isn't your father's legacy.

It's YOUR reputation they think of when they hear "Morial," and that plays into the whole New Orleans-is-corrupt meme.

Your associates have been convicted of federal crimes, are cooperating with federal investigations that still may lead to your indictment, and some are already in federal prison. Corrupt activities on the part of your closest advisers have even brought down one of the city's best leaders and most promising politicians.

Your activities and those of your associates have resulted in your own brother becoming a federal felon.

In the wake of the storm, you've abandoned the city to live in New York City. When your name comes up, it's usually in either that context or within the context of criminal activity.

You're an embarassment to us, sir. Please just stop talking.

Sincerely,
YatPundit

Wherein I brag about my kiddo...

2008-04-30T14:19:53Z

We were up and out ridiculously early this morning, to fetch the kiddo from this year's Academic Games national tournament, which was held in Orlando. The New Orleans contingent took a chartered bus there and back, and the bus returned to Brother Martin just before 0600. My son didn't go out on the bus, because the BMHS Jazz Band played their spring concert last Wednesday evening: Mine's the bone player on the end. He got into Academic Games because both his brother and his old man (once upon a time) played the games. Dad lettered and did OK at the city level, but never won nationally. Big brother (who is now at Ga Tech) did very well in the games, and is now in the AGLOA Hall of Fame. Since little brother puts most of his emphasis and effort on band, nobody really had expectations that he'd follow in big brother's Academic Games footsteps. Imagine our surprise when he came home with this haul: The New Orleans league competes in four games: On-Sets, Equations, Presidents, and Propaganda. That's two math, one Social Studies, and one Language Arts. Little brother and one other 8th grader from Brother Martin were on a team with a girl from Haynes and a boy from St. Charles Borromeo. (When enough kids qualify for nationals, they make single-school teams; when there aren't enough, they make teams from the league.) AGLOA's signature award is Rodin's "Thinker." The big trophies are for individual titles, the smaller ones for team wins. The colors are Bronze-Third, Silver-Second, Gold-First. Little brother's team placed third in Propaganda, Second in Equations, and he picked up an individual third in Propaganda. Additonally, he received one medal for a perfect score in the elimination rounds of Equations and another for top-ten in Presidents. The acrylic trophy is for placing in top-ten for sweepstakes, the overall championship for Middle Division. Big brother is very proud of him, even though he's a bit jealous, since he came up empty-handed in his 8th grade year. Traditionally, Brother Martin is a bit weak in the Middle Division because many of the boys have never played the games before, and other kids have been playing since fifth grade. Still, little brother has a long way to catch up with the firstborn: that haul of gold thinkers on top are his national championship trophies. They both make me proud!

OK, I know El Reg is slamming her

2008-04-29T21:23:18Z

But I think Amy Winehouse would be perfect to sing a Bond theme. She's got that sort of voice that would be memorable, like how Shirley Bassey singing "Goldfinger" was so memorable.

White Privilege or Good Customer Service?

2008-04-29T08:20:49Z

I've been mulling over a situation that happened at the Delta ticket counter at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport (MSY) last Friday, trying to decide if which of the two in the title happened.

Here's the story:

My son qualified for the Academic Games national tournament that was held this weekend in Orlando, FL. The New Orleans Academic Games League has been one of the serious competitors in Academic Games going all the way back to when I was in high school. Getting the opportunity to represent your school in a national competition is always a thrill for a kid, and certainly was for my 13-year old 8th grader. The group from New Orleans took chartered buses to Orlando that were scheduled to leave at 6pm. That presented a problem for my chronic over-achiever of a kiddo, because the Brother Martin High School Jazz Band had their spring concert at 7pm on Friday.

OK, being the wonderful parents that Mrs. YatPundit and I are, we were more than willing to make this work. The easy solution would be to let him play the gig Thursday night and put him on a plane to Orlando on Friday morning. This was made even easier when we learned that there was a Delta nonstop flight to MHO, and the teacher who is the Academic Games moderator for BMHS had already planned to take that flight. So, we booked the flight and that was that.

Until I got to the airport on Friday, that is.

The gig Thursday night was fantastic, and the other kids going to Orlando got off just fine. I drove kiddo to MSY about 10:15am for a 11:40am departure. We parked and went up to the First Class/Medallion line to check him in. The ticket agent was a black woman in her late 30s/early 40s. I handed her my driver's license and my "Platinum Medallion" card, explaining that I was checking in my son. The agent told me that she would have to charge me $100 extra because kiddo was only 13 and therefore had to be treated as an "unaccompanied minor."

I further explained to the agent that he wasn't going to be "unaccompanied," but rather that he was traveling with a teacher from his school. She firmly refused to bend on charging me the fee, saying that the only way that it could be avoided is if the teacher was here to escort kiddo through security.

At this point, I wasn't a happy camper. You see, I don't pay fees like this to Delta. I have "Platinum" frequent flier status with the airline. Last year, I spent over $30,000 with Delta, and I expect to spend at least as much this year. I expect them to waive fees like this as a courtesy to a good customer. This woman would simply not budge, and I was getting annoyed by it. Finally, I said we would call the teacher to see if he was already here or on his way, and take it from there. At this point, the agent got snippy with me, informing me that she was going on her break, and therefore was going to void out the current check-in of kiddo, and that we would have to start over with someone else when we got things straight.

We stepped back from the counter and off she went on her break. In the meantime, kiddo had run teacher and learned that he was indeed already checked in, through TSA, and at the gate. There was no way I could rationalize paying the hundred-buck fee. If a Delta employee had to be tasked with the responsibility of making sure kiddo got on the plane and then off into the hands of another responsible party, that would be one thing. But his teacher was going to be with him the entire time; all that was necessary was to have an adult take him through TSA.

By now kiddo's anxiety is starting to build up. It's 10:45am and departure is 11:40am. OK, time to bite the bullet and do what I have to do to make him at ease, even if it costs me a c-note. Back up to the counter we go, through the First Class line. The agent of our first encounter is still on break. To the left of that station is one agent who is servicing the regular passenger check-in line, and to the right was another agent who was one of two servicing the "self-service" computer kiosks. Ten minutes go past, and the self-service agent is not only ignoring us, but is actually handling customers who are leaving the regular line and jumping over to the kiosks. After 15 minutes had passed, I've no doubt that my face reflected my annoyance of being kept waiting this long.

Finally the agent working the regular check-in process waves to us to come over to his station. he's a white guy, early 30s. I repeat the process as before, handing him my license and platinum card, explaining that the teacher is going to accompany kiddo on the flight. He printed up kiddo's boarding pass and attached a claim check to his bag. With no mention of rules, fees, or anything, the agent asks, "Would you like to walk your son down to the gate?" I said, "yes, indeed." He took my license again and printed me up a pass to get through TSA.

The contrast between the two agents was stunning, even to me, and I fly on Delta 30+ weeks a year. I'm very much used to having my butt kissed by Delta employees, even the frazzled, stressed, overworked (but wonderful) gate agents at ATL. They see that "Platinum Medallion" on my boarding pass and they know that I'm a regular who understands the system.

This brings me back to my original question: did i benefit from good customer service, or white privilege? The first agent was a black female. The second agent was a white male. Clearly, if the rules were as firm as the female agent made them out to be, then the male agent committed a serious breach of the rules. That's not the sort of thing one good ol' boy does for another, particularly given how fickle TSA folks can be. I can see if they cut me a break because they kept us waiting so long the second trip to the counter, though. I'd like to think that I was treated the way I was because of my customer status, not my race.

L'Academie de Sacre Coeur

2008-04-28T18:19:41Z

Doctor Daisy and I were tweeting about Sacred Heart on St. Charles, when I was reminded of a paragraph from the school's "history" page:

In the late 19th century, the French Quarter was in decline. Most importantly, the established French, Catholic families from the Quarter and Esplanade Ridge, whose daughters were the mainstay of the student body, were moving across town into what was the American sector. In addition, second generation English and Irish families, who were already uptown, were seeking for their daughters a school that provided the same type of education that the religious had been providing downtown. It was therefore no surprise that the religious sought refuge from their deteriorating urban environment and turned their attention upriver. Demographically, the nuns and the city were moving in the same direction.

Where to begin in terms of dissecting this oh-so-bigoted paragraph? The only yardstick by which one could argue that the Quarter was "in decline" in the late 19th century would be the one where you measure how many "original Creole" families were still left in the neighborhood. The reason the "established French, Catholic families" bailed from Da Quarters was because the Italians began living there in larger numbers. Just as the French Quarter really became the "Spanish Quarter" after the fire of 1788, by the 1880s, it had become the "Italian Quarter." Our Lady of Victory, located on Rue Chartres next to the Old Ursuline Convent, became known as "St. Mary's Italian" church as the Italian community grew in the area.

The problem with Sacred Heart being in the Quarter was that the young women who went there might have to associate themselves with the Italian boys and girls in the neighborhood, and that disturbed the parents. Better for them to move Uptown, where they would be closer to the folks who lived in the Garden District and Faubourg Bouligny, who were more "their kind."

I never dated any girls from l'Academie, but I did date Holy Angels girls. From where I sit, I'm very glad the French families bailed. :-)

This is what all referees should strive for

2008-04-28T13:08:30Z

A bit of a follow-up to this post about Alexander Hleb of Arsenal and his clocking of Graeme Murty two weekends ago. In a BBC interview, Murty said that referee Peter Waldon's apology made all the difference:

He said: "He prevented me from taking the law into my own hands and kept 11 men on the pitch." Murty added: "He said 'I'm sorry Murts. I missed it. I apologise. You have a game to play.' That got me back.

The biggest problem footie referees at any level have is admitting they made a mistake to players. I know a lot of referees who won't admit fault even after a match is over, much less while still on the pitch.

Huzzah! to Mr. Waldon for keeping a lid on the situation.